La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

What can Washington state do to avoid problems similar to those Texas experienced with its energy supply during February 2021? How should our grid and utility regulations be designed to maintain economic and reliable service, especially as the use of intermittent solar and wind generation, and electric vehicles, all increase?

Let’s start with what our state can do to avoid the high electric prices Texas experienced.

Two key lessons the public can learn from the Texas situation are: Electric prices can go up 100-fold within minutes if a short-term mismatch between electric supply and dem...